Diagnostic Overshadowing
Posts exploring how an FND diagnosis may influence subsequent clinical reasoning, potentially leading symptoms, findings, or alternative diagnoses to be overlooked, discounted, or insufficiently investigated.
When a Genetic Neurological Disorder Was Considered Functional: The FLVCR1 Case
FND Nope
Moderator
A woman with progressive neurological symptoms and documented FLVCR1 variants repeatedly had her symptoms considered functional. A 2026 case report exposes a failure to connect neurological findings with an existing genetic disorder.
When Defending FND Means Missing the Point
Quackademic
David Healy's warning that drug toxicity can disappear behind an FND diagnosis has provoked predictable criticism. But much of the response confuses how FND is supposed to be diagnosed with how it is actually diagnosed. The literature itself shows misdiagnosis, overdiagnosis and diagnostic overshadowing occur. You can dislike Healy's language. You still have to answer his argument.
FND, Until It Was Inoperable Tongue Cancer
FND Nope
Moderator
A 58-year-old woman with progressive swallowing and speech problems was diagnosed with functional movement disorder. Eleven months after onset, repeat imaging found advanced squamous-cell carcinoma. The authors say diagnostic bias from the FMD diagnosis even caused abnormal swallowing findings to be misinterpreted.
FND Hope's Founder, a Misdiagnosis, and Sneddon's Syndrome
FND Nope
Moderator
FND treatment is built around assumptions about why symptoms occur. But what happens when those assumptions are wrong? Bridget Mildon's Sneddon's syndrome and Rebel's later ALS diagnosis raise an uncomfortable patient-safety question: how safe is mechanism-specific treatment when the mechanism itself remains uncertain?
I Am Angry
Christoff
Spousal caregiver
I am angry that uncertainty became certainty, that softened language obscures what is actually being claimed, that scepticism is treated as hostility, and that while we argue about FND, my wife keeps getting sicker.
POTS Found After FND: Comorbidity, or a Common Phenotype?
FND Nope
Moderator
An FND case report found objective POTS after years of orthostatic symptoms were attributed to FND, anxiety and deconditioning. The authors call it comorbidity. But the case leaves a more important question unanswered: are the “functional signs” really evidence of a second disorder?
From PNES and Suspected FND to C1 Paralysis: Amy Wang-Hiller's Story
Facebook Stories
Social media
Violinist Amy Wang-Hiller describes how suspected FND, a PNES diagnosis and repeated psychological attribution allegedly delayed recognition of tethered spinal cord, cervical instability and progressive paralysis.
FND Diagnostic Pitfalls: When Positive Signs Point Elsewhere
FND Nope
Moderator
A 2023 review by FND researchers acknowledges that Hoover's sign, distractibility, sensory abnormalities and other supposedly characteristic findings can occur in recognised neurological diseases. What does that mean for diagnostic certainty?
Two Years Diagnosed With FND Before Autoimmune and Genetic Findings Emerged
Reddit Stories
Social media
A Reddit user reports spending two years diagnosed with FND and anxiety before investigations reportedly identified autoimmune and genetic neurological conditions. Their experience raises questions about overlapping symptoms, diagnostic closure, and why complex presentations may be interpreted as functional.
FND Diagnosis Reversed: Autoimmune Basal Ganglia Encephalitis
Reddit Stories
Social media
A patient diagnosed with FND reports that a second opinion revealed autoimmune basal ganglia encephalitis. Their account raises questions about incomplete investigations, overlooked neurological findings and whether an unexplained illness was prematurely labelled functional.
